


A Father's Dilemma

by EveninCouncilor



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-17
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-03-05 23:16:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13398348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EveninCouncilor/pseuds/EveninCouncilor
Summary: Rafael Barba has a life that he has kept separate from his work, but when the two finally merge he is left with a difficult decision.





	1. Twelve

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first published work on the Archive! Please let me know if y'all have any critiques on how to make this work better, and what you would like to see as it unfolds. 
> 
> ****************************************************************************************************
> 
> The only character that belongs to me is Maria, all the others are established characters belonging to Dick Wolf and Law and Order: SVU.

The air around you surged as a resounding chime of twelve strikes rung out of the clock that stared straight at you mockingly. Its hand hovered over the twelfth hour as the room about you stood in unison to exit the building. _Twelve. Twelve. Twelve. It wasn’t right. Twelve._

A pressure pulled at the seams of the trance that enveloped you. _Twelve._ “Maria, are you okay?” The voice seemed distant and muffled.

_Where am I? Water. I can’t breath. Voice. Papá!_

“Maria, you can wait here until 12:15 if you would like, but I have to dismiss early. I have to go.”

The pressure was gone, but the peeling edges were still stuck. You stood up, upon release and instinctively put away your flute and music, shoving the latter into a satchel draped over right shoulder. The blue case was added to the leather satchel and your feet began shuffling without your knowledge.

The cold air nipped at the exposed flesh of your face, whipping red marks with the dark hair that engulfed the sight before you. _Twelve._ Blocks passed quickly. _Twelve._ The converse clad feet brushed over the light dusting of snow covering the solid grey sidewalk. _Twelve._ You pushed open the doors to a warmth of people. _Papá!_

_I can’t interrupt Papá in court. He said sit in the back and wait if I need him._

The edges peeled further as you watched Papá speak to a woman in the box. Her eyes crinkled in pain, her breath quick and erratic. Then your gaze went to the jury box. Pulse quicken, shoulders droop. Eyes glancing away, nose wrinkle. _Belief. Belief. Belief._ His eyes rolled ever-so-slightly, his breathing steady, pulse even. Corners neutral, but shoulders arrogant. _Disbelief._ _Belief. Belief. Belief. Belief._ Head turn away, pulse quick, jaw tight. Fingers fidget. _Belief._ Neck twist, pop knuckles, stretch back. Chest expands in exasperated breath, shakes head slightly. _Disbelief._ Knods. _Belief. Belief._

The room rose in unison again as you glanced around following the crowds instructions. Your feet pushed you forward.

_Papá said not to cross the gate. He said, “mija, you can’t cross there when Papá is working. You have to wait until I pack up.”_

Papá was packing up his papers. “Papá.” He turned. Eyes worried, wrinkle nose, brow scrunch. Corners down. _But Papá I waited until you were done._

His voice was hoarse, “mija, what are you doing here?”

_Twelve._ You began rocking back and forth on your heels. _Twelve._ You nodded, “twelve.”

A voice from beside you cut the air and caused you to cease rocking, “What? Barba who--”

Your fleeting eyes met a pair of green ones with worried lines encasing the orbs. His brows raised as he came around the gate and entered your space. His voice was low and steady, “Por qué no estás con abuelita (Why aren’t you with abuelita)?” His hand found your shoulder as you rocked into his touch.

“Papá you need to make a plea deal.”

“Mija, not here--”

“Jurors four and ten don’t believe the witness. You need to plea--”

“Para!”

_Papá mad. No. No. No._ You rocked faster, until he gripped your wrist and began to pull you aside, away from the people who sat behind his table in the pew.

Papá’s arm weighed on your shoulder as he pulled you close, “mija, you shouldn’t be here. How did you even get over here? You were supposed to go to the school after rehearsal.”

“Twelve.”

“Mar, it’s okay.” Your eyes closed as he placed a kiss to your temple.

“I waited until you were packing up like you said, Papá.”

He nodded, “good job, Princessa. I’m proud of you.” Papá grinned. Happy lines. “I am done in court for the day, do you want to come to mi oficina for lunch? I can call abuelita and let her know you’re not going to the school. Do you want that?”

You nodded furiously, your grin displayed your pearly whites and extreme content. Your bobbing was stopped with the same voice as before. _Pretty lady._ Brows low, bridge pinched. _Questioning. Confused._ “Barba, care to introduce us?”

Papá stepped up and guided you in front of the four figures standing there. Your eyes never met theirs, only staying on their hands and features. “Liv, detectives, this is my daughter, Maria.” You rocked slightly onto your heels before his hand stopped you from repeating the motion. He lowered his voice to speak directly to you, “mija, say hi to Papá’s detectives.”

You mumbled so the greeting was barely audible, “hola,” your eyes refusing to meet theirs. It wasn’t necessarily because you were shy, you just couldn’t do it.

“Mar--”

Your voice raised its volume to please Papá, “hola, Liv and detectives.” Turning up to see a look of approval you raised the corners of your mouth slightly, and he smiled in return.

A blond man grinned cheekily. Dimples. _Happy._ “Hi, Maria! I’m Sonny!”

You mimicked his expression and said, “Hi Sonny!”

“Maria, what did you mean about needing to make a plea deal?” I like Sonny.

You nodded excitedly and said through your smile, “jurors fours and ten don’t believe the witness at all.” Glancing at your Papá he shook his head slightly. _Amused._

Eyebrows furrow. _Confused._ “How do you know?”

“Body tells me.” You grinned and continued to nodded fervently.

Papá placed a strong hand onto your shoulder, “Maria is hypersensitive to body language and emotion, so she can tell how everybody feels about... anything. Ella es muy especial.” He beamed at you with pride and love pulling you into his side, holding you close.

The pretty brunette lady from before speaks up, “Rafa, why have you never told us you had a daughter?”

Papá’s body tensed, and you glared at Liv for making Papá uncomfortable. “I...uh--”

_I need to help Papá._ “Papá can we go? Tengo hambre (I’m hungry).” You felt the tension release, and you smirked a bit at the successful attempt. He pulled his gaze from the detectives and without another word led you from the courthouse.


	2. Vodka Sauce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lunch date ends badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is more from Rafael's perspective, and I think I'm going to alternate perspectives between Maria and Rafael every chapter. Thank you so much for the Kudos! Let me know what y'all think so far!

_I can’t believe they know now. I spent so much time and effort keeping mi bebé away and safe._ Rafael held tight to his daughter’s hand as he led her away from his coworkers. The tension in his shoulders left as the pair was hit by the frigid air.

They walked two blocks to the nearest italian restaurant and slipped inside out of the cold. “Table for two, please.” His voice was hoarse, as his vocal cords seemed to have frozen in the walk over. As the father-daughter pair was led to a table Rafael glanced at his precious child. _How am I so lucky to have you in my life?_

The two were sat at a small booth next to the wall of windows. Maria traced her reflection in the chilled glass as snowflakes melted at her touch. She smiled.

“Can I start y’all off with anything?” the waitress’ drawl dragging Rafael’s thoughts from his daughter staring at her reflection in awe.

“I’ll take a coffee with cream and sugar, and she will have an apple juice. But for the apple juice, can you cut it with water?” His gaze met a pair of gentle brown eyes with years of knowing behind them.

“Of course, sweetie. I’ll have those right up.” She scurried away to grab another order before getting the requested beverages.

Rafael watched his sweet Maria for a minute more before breaking her trance with a gentle hand on hers. She turned and smiled at her Papá. “Mija, what would you like to eat for lunch?” He handed her a one-sided menu with the lunch specials face up.

As she was taking off her satchel and placing it beside her in the booth she grinned, “Pasta.” She nodded her head before looking back to the menu, licking her chapped lips, “umm… with vodka sauce.”

“Ooo, that sounds delectable! I think I’m going to have the fettuccine alfredo with shrimp,” Rafael licked his lips also, eliciting a giggle from his company.

The middle-aged waitress came back with their drinks and set them before the patrons. “Thank you!” they both replied in unison.

She chuckled a bit before asking their orders, for which they both responded with their desired meals sounding excited to be getting some good, hot food. About half a minute later she was back with some news. In a soft voice the waitress said, “I’m sorry to inform you, but we are actually all out of vodka sauce at the moment. Is there something else I can get for you, sweetheart?”

Maria started to rock back and forth. _Oh goodness. Why the vodka sauce?_ Rafael reached over the table to lay his hand on his daughter’s, but instead of calming down like she normally would have she stood up abruptly, taking the table with her. The light wooden table rose slightly and dumped the drinks onto Rafael’s lap, which caused him to shoot up as well. Maria jumped over her own feet and started towards the door. “Mija! It’s okay! Maria!” He started to follow, but knew the table was a huge mess and he turned around to help the sweet waitress. “I’m so sorry. She’s usually not like this-”

She put up a hand, “Honey, it’s okay. Really. I understand. Go to her.”

“But how-” he quirked an eyebrow.

“I saw how she couldn’t look me in the eye. My grandson is the same way.” She placed a hand on his shoulder, “go to her.”

At that Rafael ripped the satchel from the booth, slinging it over his shoulder, dug out his wallet and handed the woman a twenty and dashed out the door. He swung his head from side to side in hopes of catching sight of Maria’s red jacket. Nothing. _Dios mio. Mija!_ He took off down the sidewalk, hoping he’d see the rose red in the crowd. _Why didn’t I stop her before she was out the door. Mierda! What have I done?_

Rafael didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t call the police, they’d say she was an adult and they wouldn’t help. He couldn’t call her cell phone because she left it in her satchel. _I have to call the squad._ He fished his phone out of his pocket with fumbling fingers, and was about to press Liv’s contact when he heard muffled sobs near him. Whipping around, he saw a red coat in the alley across the street. _How did she get across in this shitty traffic?_ A father’s instinct took over as he dashed through the oncoming cars, horns blaring. He got to the other side in one piece, thankfully, and ran into the alley. “Mija!” his voice croaked as he saw a man ripping off her red armor and throwing her to the ground.

The man turned on the intruder and snarled, “What the f-”

“Get off of her!” Rafael charged at the man, but he fled in the opposite direction, too fast for the aging lawyer.

Muffled sobs escaped the crumpled body on the white ground, “Papá?”

He rushed to her side and pulled her into his lap, rocking her softly. “Shh. Mija, it’s okay. You’re safe now. Papí has you. You’re safe.” He kept repeating this over and over as her sobbing subsided and was now a gentle whimper, but he kept whispering it to soothe his own worried self.

She looked up into his watering eyes, “Papá?”

“Yes, mija?” the sound barely a whisper.

“Tengo hambre.”

He chuckled despite what just happened to his darling girl. He stood up with her in his arms before he put her down on her own two feet, “let’s order in, baby girl,” pressing a kiss to her temple. They were about to hail a cab when Rafael turned around and snapped a few photos of the alley to show his detectives. _Just in case._ They got into the cab and rode in near silence, save for Maria’s humming Doppler’s _Fantaisie pastorale hongroise_ out the window. When they pulled up to the brownstone Rafael paid the driver as the two got out of the car, and trudged up the steps to the forest green door.

As he got the keys from his pocket, Rafael truly looked at his little girls face, noticing a large gash from her ear to underneath her chin. He placed two fingers under her chin and turned her face towards him to get a better look. “Oh, mija.” She winced at the pain and he returned the same pained look. Quickly unlocking the door, he held it open as she walked into the warm air.

“Papá, I’m tired,” her voice was low and pained. She lumbered into the kitchen and opened the fridge up and pulled out a carton of strawberries. Setting them on the counter she looked over at her Papá who was still at the door, his eyes sad and watery. “Papá, what’s wrong?” She started over towards him.

Rafael wrapped his arms around her soft frame and held her tight to his chest, soft sobs coming from his throat. “Mija… are… are you okay?” He tipped her face up to look at him. “I was so worried about you… then that m… man hurt you. God,” he looked up to the ceiling attempting, but failing to blink away the tears, “he could’ve… Oh God… Dios mio… mi princesa…”

Maria tapped his chest lightly with the pads of her pointer and middle fingers, “Papá… I’m okay.” He placed a few gentle kisses on her forehead, “Papí?”

“Hmm?”

“Are _you_ okay?” the two pairs of green eyes met one another for a moment. The wiser set shook side to side, as the younger ones darted away quickly. After placing a few more kisses to her forehead, Rafael picked up his phone, “mija, I’m going to call Liv to get your statement on what happened in the alleyway.” Maria just nodded, “how about you put on some jammies and I’ll make some lunch before we deal with this,” she smiled at this and ran to her bedroom. He hit send and his jaw clenched with nervousness.

“Benson.”

“Hey Liv. I have a favor to ask,” his voice choked on the remaining tears in his throat.

“Hey Rafa, what’s wrong?” the concern in her voice made him take a deep breath to calm her worries.

“Umm… Mar and I were at lunch when she had umm… a little incident, and ran out,” his voice was shaking now, “umm… when I found her she… umm.... There was a man… uh…”

“Oh God, Rafa-”

“She’s okay. Uh… she has a cut on her jaw when he pushed her down, but other than that… she’s okay.”

“Is there anything I can do?” he heard her packing up her stuff.

“Can you come over and umm… get her statement? Just in case.” He sounded exhausted, voice hoarse.

“Yes, of course. Do you need anything else?”

Maria walked back in wearing purple and white polka dot pajama pants and a white tank top that said “I’m Flutiful” on it in silver. She smiled at him and sat next to where he landed on the couch half-way through his conversation with Liv. “Umm, one second,” he gave a half smile to his little girl, “Liv is coming over to talk to you about what happened, do you want anything before she gets here?”

Her tongue stuck out just a bit as she thought for a minute, then raised her finger with an idea, “Sonny!”

Raf quirked his brow, “You want Sonny to come over?” She nodded vigorously, “Well, alright.” He turned his attention back to the phone, “You heard that Liv? She wants Carisi to come over.”

Liv laughed into the phone, “Well, that makes one Barba. Ha! We’ll be over shortly, Rafael.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All the established SVU characters are owned by Dick Wolf.


End file.
